THE body of a man who died after being crushed to death in a cement mixture was exhumed as police seek further answers as to what happened more than a decade ago.
The body of Lee Balkwell from Hornchurch was taken to a hospital for a new postmortem to be carried out to check if he died in suspicious circumstances. He was reinterred at 7am yesterday (Tuesday).
The exhumation at Upminster Cemetery forms part of the ongoing investigation into the death by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.
Mr Balkwell died when he apparently became trapped between the drum and chassis while cleaning a cement lorry mixer in the early hours of July 18, 2002, at Baldwin's Farm in Upminster.
His father Les said: "It's been more than ten years since Lee was buried so I'm not sure how much will be left to examine, but we are prepared to go to every length to get justice for Lee."
The decision to exhume Lee comes after five people were arrested in connection with the death.
In November officers arrested a 43-year-old man from Upminster on suspicion of gross negligence, manslaughter and perverting the course of justice and perjury.
A 66-year-old man, a 63-year-old woman and another woman, aged 49 from Upminster, were also arrested for perverting the course of justice and perjury, as was another man aged 38 from Southend.
All five have been released on bail until April.
Detective Inspector Janine Farrell said: "We will now await the full postmortem report and will then be assessing the results to see how they can help inform the next steps in our investigation.
"This investigation is committed to searching for the truth about what happened to Lee Balkwell in July 2002 and we have not made the decision to conduct this exhumation lightly."